Tag: Quick Review

Quick Review – Landfall by James Bradley

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Australian, Murder Mystery, Quick Review, Science Fiction, Thriller1 Comment

Publisher: Penguin (ebook – 23 April 2025)

Series: Standalone

Length: 336 pages

My Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars

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Those in the mood for a though-provoking and powerful Australian crime fiction read would do well to check out the excellent 2025 release, Landfall.  Written by acclaimed Australian author James Bradley, Landfall was a clever and intense standalone novel that presented a gritty crime fiction scenario in a dark Australian future.

Plot Synopsis:

In an already swamped city, a disastrous weather system looms, making the search to find a missing child urgent.

A missing child.

A city on edge.

Time is running out…

The world is in the grip of climate catastrophe. Sydney has been transformed by rising sea levels, soaring temperatures and rocketing social divide and unrest.

When a small girl on the margins goes missing, Senior Detective Sadiya Azad is assigned to find her. She knows exactly what it is to be displaced, and swallowed by the landscape. A murder at the site of the child’s disappearance suggests a connection and web of corruption, but fear keeps eyes turned and mouths closed.

With few leads to go on and only days until a deadly storm strikes the city, Sadiya and offsider Detective Sergeant Paul Findlay find themselves locked in a race against time.

Chilling and utterly compelling, Landfall is crime writing at its best – and a terrifying vision of the future bearing down on us.

Landfall was an excellent and exciting novel from earlier this year that presented a compelling crime fiction read with a complex and emotionally charged background setting.  Taking place in a dystopian version of modern Sydney that is starting to flood due to climate change, Landfall follows Senior Detective Sadiya Azad and her new partner, Detective Sergeant Paul Findlay, as they attempt to find a child who went missing around the Tideline, a slum area of the city that has been most impacted by rising sea levels.  However, they soon find their investigation hampered by multiple elements including corrupt policing, uncooperative family members with their own political agendas, rampart social divides and more.  This proves to be a strong start to Landfall, and Bradley does a good job of setting up the reality of Sydney, as well as introducing the case and some of the key players.

The story takes an interesting turn when a murdered body is found at a site connected to the child’s disappearance.  Assuming the two cases are linked, the protagonists are forced to investigate suspects related to the murder victim and her corporate ties, and the missing child, trying to find out who is responsible, while also dealing with the dark threat of an oncoming tropical cyclone that looks set to destroy half the city.  At the same time, several other key perspective character are introduced, including Tasim, a refugee living on the streets, who witnesses the abduction and finds himself dragged into events, and Sadiya’s dementia-suffering father, Arman, whose fractured mind provides greater context to their family’s history, as well as showing the early days of some of the environmental crisis’s impacting the world.

These character-focused storylines combine nicely to create an intriguing and compelling overall narrative, and I liked the various themes and outlooks at the future they contained.  The main investigative focus of Sadiya’s narrative is well balanced by the more human stories of Tasim and Arman, and Bradley also makes use of some intense flashback sequences to really build up the tragedy surrounding all these figures.  The mystery narrative also goes in some interesting directions, and while the culprit isn’t too surprising, Bradley does a good job focusing on the characters building their case and pulling together the conclusions.  Unsurprisingly, the climax of Landfall comes together amid the cyclone, with all the characters facing the storm in different ways.  This last part of the book, while dramatic and featuring a high-stakes backdrop, was a little rushed, and could have used a little padding to make it more satisfying.  Still, this is a mostly well-balanced narrative that allows for a good conclusion to the main story arc while also allowing Bradley to make all his thematic points.

Landfall ended up being an excellent overall read and Bradley succeeded in pulling together a complex novel with a lot of moving parts to it.  The central mystery element of the novel, while compelling on its own, was greatly enhanced by the author’s examinations of the future, which features some dire predictions and warnings, wrapped up in very human stories to make them even more impactful.  While an excellent police protagonist, I felt that Sadiya’s personal story was a bit overshadowed by Tasim and Arman’s arcs, especially as Tasmin’s story about losing his family to heatwaves and the harsh journey to Australia, as well as the very realistic depictions of dementia with Arman.  All three of these character’s stories are well wrapped up in the final chapters of the book, although I do wish there had been another chapter or two just to showcase what happened in the aftermath.  The overall focus on the potential dire future for Sydney and the world was probably the most impressive and notable part of Landfall, and Bradley provided a compelling, if terrifying, portrait of probable events to come that gives this book a fantastic edge that scrapes the edge of overshadowing the main mystery, and allows for quite a powerful overall read.

With its complex characters, intense story, and compelling visions of the future, Landfall by James Bradley was one of the more distinctive Australian novels of 2025, and I was glad I got the chance to check out my first book from the author.  An extremely interesting novel that blends crime fiction with social messaging, Landfall comes highly recommended, especially for those with one eye on the future.

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Quick Review – Crusade by Richard Cullen

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Historical Fiction, Quick Review3 Comments

Publisher: Boldwood Books (ebook – 10 February 2025)

Series: Chronicles of the Black Lion – Book Two

Length: 369 pages

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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If you’re in the mood for some excellent and exciting historical fiction, look no further than the outstanding read Crusade by fantastic author Richard Cullen.  Cullen, who also writes as fantasy author R. S. Ford (see my review for his book Engines of Empire), provides a fantastic second entry in his Chronicles of the Black Lion historical series with Crusade.  An amazing sequel to his 2024 novel, Rebellion, Crusade continues to follow his protagonist, Estienne Wace, former squire to William Marshal, on another powerful journey, this time into the Fifth Crusade.


Plot Synopsis:

Egypt 1219AD.

Abandoning the safety of England for the perilous shores of the Levant, Estienne Wace is thrust into the turmoil of the Fifth Crusade. Burning with righteous purpose, he is determined to reclaim the Holy Land in the name of Christ.

War rages along the banks of the Nile as a crusading army besieges the Saracen city of Damietta, certain that the price they pay in blood will return the glory and treasures they crave. But as the Black Lion roars, and the siege grinds on, Estienne’s unwavering faith is tested more and more by the grim reality of this brutal conflict.

As the siege turns on a knife edge, Estienne finds himself thrust upon a journey across the merciless desert. Stripped of everything, and forced into a dangerous alliance, he will grapple with the true meaning of faith, honour, and the price of salvation, in a land where nothing is as he once believed.


Crusade was a captivating and worthy sequel to Rebellion that provided readers with the intriguing next chapter in the life of Cullen’s main character.  Easily read as a standalone historical adventure or a continuation of the author’s previous book, Crusade starts off strong and keeps the action coming quick and fast, as the protagonist is thrown into battle to seize the Saracen city of Damietta.  There are some awesome sequences here, as Cullen produces some high-quality and intense medieval combat scenes that allow the reader to feel every hack and thrust of the protagonist’s sword.  At the same time, the author also provides the reader with some introspection, as the protagonist has his first doubts about the crusade he has sworn to fight for.

Cullen quickly moves the reader into one of the more memorable parts of Crusade, as the protagonist finds himself separated from his crusader brethren and is instead captured and sold into slavery.  Forced to cross the desert, Estienne faces innumerable hardships as he attempts to escape, including slavers, the elements, a surprise band of Mongolian raiders, and a gigantic and vengeful warrior who has sworn to hunt down and kill him.  This proved to be a really fun part of the book, as the author provides innumerable perils, while also introducing or expanding on several interesting supporting characters.  You really get stuck into Crusade’s story here, and it sets up the final third of the book extremely well, as a doubtful Estienne takes part in the final conflicts of the Fifth Crusade.  Cullen features these final battles nicely, especially with some dual perspectives from Estienne’s gigantic rival, and you get some interesting closure as the final battles of the crusade emerge.  Everything ends on a hopeful note, and you are left wondering what adventures will appear next in the series as the protagonist embarks on a new journey.

As with Rebellion before it, one of the things that I personally enjoyed about Crusade was Cullen’s excellent use of historical elements as he dove into the compelling events surrounding the Fifth Crusade.  One of the lesser utilised crusades in historical fiction, the Fifth Crusade saw the armies of Christendom invade Egypt, with a combined force of multiple nations and knightly orders.  This was a clever historical event to set a story in, especially as it fits in right after the First Barons’ War, which was the focus of Rebellion.  Cullen clearly did his research when it came to this conflict, and I liked how he fit his protagonist in amongst the key events of the crusade.  Estienne proves to be a good witness to the major conflicts of the war, and his subsequent wanderings in the desert also provided some interesting historical context, especially with the appearance of the Mongolians and other desert groups.  I deeply appreciated this cool examination of this period, and I love that Cullen is taking the opportunity to feature some less well-known conflicts with his books.  It will be interesting to see what wars or key historical events Cullen will set his next entry in the Chronicles of the Black Lion series around, but I am sure I will find it fascinating.

Richard Cullen continues to impress with his cool historical fiction.  Crusade proved to be a great addition to Chronicles of the Black Lion series, and I enjoyed its excellent action, compelling historical inclusions and intriguing narrative.  I look forward to seeing where Cullen will take his series next, and I am having fun with these awesome books.

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Quick Review – An Eye For An Eye by Jeffrey Archer

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Quick Review, Thriller1 Comment

Publisher: Harper Collins (ebook – 24 September 2024)

Series: William Warwick – Book Seven

Length: 384 pages

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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One of the world’s most interesting and well-known authors, Jeffrey Archer, returns for the penultimate entry in his long-running William Warwick series, An Eye For An Eye.

Well-known British figure Jeffrey Archer has carved an intriguing niche for himself as a crime fiction author over the last few decades.  Known for his compelling and fast-paced crime fiction reads, which often contain a historical element to them, Archer has written a huge body of work, including his Kane and Abel books, his Clifton Chronicles and standalone novels such as Heads You Win.  His most recent focus has been his entertaining William Warwick series, which follows the titular protagonist as he rises the ranks of the Metropolitan Police over a period of years while solving a series of complex crimes and facing off against his dastardly nemesis.  I have had a brilliant time with several books in this series, including Nothing Ventured, Hidden in Plain Sight, Turn a Blind Eye and Traitors Gate, all of which have proven to be quite exciting and enjoyable.  As such, it was an easy choice to grab the latest entry in the series, An Eye For An Eye, which had an excellent plot behind it.  The seventh book in the series, An Eye For An Eye is the second to last William Warwick book, and Archer keeps the excitement going all the way to the end.

Plot Synopsis:

In one of the most luxurious cities on earth…

A billion-dollar deal is about to go badly wrong. A lavish night out is about to end in murder. And the British government is about to be plunged into crisis.

In the heart of the British establishment…

Lord Hartley, the latest in a line of peers going back over two hundred years, lies dying. But his will triggers an inheritance with explosive consequences.

Two deaths. Continents apart. No obvious connection.

So why are they both at the centre of a master criminal’s plot for revenge?

And can Scotland Yard’s William Warwick uncover the truth before it’s too late…

The ultimate race-against-time is about to begin.


Archer pulls together another compelling, intense and exciting story for An Eye For An Eye that combines an intriguing new storyline with some of the series’ existing plotlines.  Starting off with a murder in Riyadh that throws the British government into turmoil, the plot sees William Warwick and his team drawn into an international concern, as one of their team members, the roguish Inspector Ross Hogan, is recruited to save a British government delegate and the heir to the Hartley family, who has been framed and falsely imprisoned for murder.  However, things become even more problematic when the protagonist’s old criminal rival, Miles Faulkner, becomes involved with the plot, desperate to not only have his revenge against Warwick, Hogan, and their loved ones but also steal a valuable letter from the Hartley family.

What follows is the usual game of cat and mouse between the protagonists and the vengeful Faulkner, as Warwick’s team attempts to counter the criminal’s various ploys, while also trying to find evidence that will allow them to put him away again.  This combines nicely with the larger storyline around the international conspiracy involving the imprisonment of the British delegate, and I liked the compelling back-and-forth twists as the protagonists doggedly try to stop Faulkner getting out on top.  There are some fun twists as we get towards the end of the book, and readers are treated to the usual fast-paced excitement that they have come to know and appreciate over the course of the series.  Everything comes together nicely in a gripping cliffhanger conclusion as Archer lays the groundwork for the final book in the series, which looks set to be the big showdown between the long-time series rivals.

As with the previous books in the William Warwick series, An Eye For An Eye was a really entertaining and fast-paced read that kept dragging the reader along with it.  Featuring a wonderful blend of intrigue, schemes, complex thrills and interesting character work, An Eye For An Eye was very fun and you honestly have a hard time putting down the constantly moving story.  Archer once again brings back his eccentric group of protagonists, which include Chief Superintendent William Warwick, his boisterous family, the various key police officers he has teamed up over the years, as well as a fun collection of rogues and victims introduced in this plot.  Thanks to Archer’s use of quick-changing character perspectives, you get an interesting look at the plot from various points of view, which allowed for an intricate tale with a lot of moving parts to it.

Out of all these characters, my favourite has to be the main series antagonist, Miles Faulkner, a master criminal and schemer who the protagonist has been feuding with since the very first novel.  Thanks to their lengthy history and many defeats, Faulkner is a little obsessed with Warwick, Hogan, and their colleagues and families, engaging in a series of plots against them that range from killing their key witness to trying to get Warwick’s wife fired from her gallery directorship.  While this rivalry and the elaborate means that Faulkner utilises to spite and try to destroy the protagonists is very over the top, especially as it has been going now for seven books and over 20 in-series years, it is frankly very entertaining, and I love how much energy Archer puts into writing Faulkner as the ultimate gentleman criminal.  The back-and-forth schemes and ploys between Faulkner and the protagonists are always a highlight of any book in the series, and An Eye For An Eye showcases this perfectly, delighting both new readers and those already invested in the long-running feud.  Indeed, the conclusion of this book brings this into focus perfectly, and I cannot wait to see how they finish off this feud in the final William Warwick book later this year.

Jeffery Archer once again impresses with his exciting and captivating William Warwick novel, An Eye For An Eye.  Setting his fun protagonists on a compelling new crime fiction adventure while also featuring the author’s fantastic recurring villain, An Eye For An Eye had me hooked the entire way through, and it is so easy to sit back and enjoy this fantastic read.  A gripping and highly enjoyable novel, I look forward to seeing how Archer wraps up the series with his next and final William Warwick book.

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Quick Review – 2024 Crime Fiction novels

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Murder Mystery, Quick Review, Thriller2 Comments

As we get further into 2025, I have been trying to revisit some of the books from last year that I read but never got a chance to write reviews for.  This includes four excellent crime fiction reads from earlier in the year that I had fun getting through but which I never seemed to have enough time to publish anything about it.  I am hoping to rectify that now by quickly reviewing these fantastic 2024 releases with very interesting plots behind them.

Blood Mountain by Alisa Lynn Valdés

Publisher: Thomas & Mercer (ebook – 16 October 2024)

Series: Jodi Luna – Book Two

Length: 331 pages

My Rating: 3.75 out of 5 stars

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The first book that I want to highlight was the intriguing and entertaining thriller, Blood Mountain by Alisa Lynn Valdés.  The second book in the author’s Jodi Luna series, Blood Mountain was an interesting novel that saw a contentious group caught up on a mountain with a killer on the loose.


Plot Synopsis:

New Mexico game warden Jodi Luna disrupts a murderous wilderness adventure in this thrilling second installment from Alisa Lynn Valdés, New York Times bestselling author of The Dirty Girls Social Club.

Former poetry professor Jodi Luna hasn’t quite adjusted to life as a game warden. Her boss thinks she’s better with animals than humans, and the man she’s seeing wants a real relationship. Still reeling from her husband’s death, Jodi has to admit that she keeps people at a distance.

After her new friend, wealthy actress Claudia Evans, gathers with family members in the New Mexico wilderness, Jodi gets some unsettling news—that Claudia’s brother-in-law is missing. Eager to help, Jodi ventures into the wild to investigate, only to be thwarted by a blizzard that leaves the entire group stranded at a fishing lodge.

Jodi is no stranger to extreme weather, but when these reluctant adventurers start turning up mauled around the snowed-in lodge, Jodi suspects the this was no bear. This was murder.

And inside the snowy confines of this rustic hideaway, everyone is fair game…

…for a killer.


Blood Mountain was a compelling and fast-paced read from Valdés that sought to combine a whodunnit in an isolated location with over-the-top characters, a great natural setting and other intriguing elements.  An intriguing sequel to the author’s previous Jodi Luna, Blood Mountain was a great book that works well as both a standalone novel and part of the larger series.  This was an entertaining read that I had a lot of fun getting into.

Starting off in a memorable way with a bear, the main plot sees protagonist Jodi Luna trapped in the central story location with a dysfunctional family, with a murderer on the loose.  Clashing with the elements and the entitled rich people she is forced to babysit, Luna tries to wrangle everyone through the night while discovering their secrets and motives for murder.  I felt the result was a decent whodunit narrative, and I liked the mystery that emerged.  The big personalities of the supporting cast allowed for a very exaggerated story at times, which helped to disguise the motives of the real killer to a degree.  While I do think that Valdés might have overplayed her social messaging to an unfortunate degree, for the most part Blood Mountain was a fantastic read that I was really glad I decided to check out.

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A Clean Kill by Steven Konkoly

Publisher: Thomas & Mercer (ebook – 1 July 2024)

Series: Garrett Mann – Book One

Length: 384 pages

My Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars

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The second book in this post is the very intense action-packed thriller, A Clean Kill by Steven Konkoly.  An excellent read that starts off as a serial killer story before transforming into a conspiracy laden spy thriller, A Clean Kill was one of the more unique books I read in 2024, and I really enjoyed its captivating plot. 


Plot Synopsis:

An FBI agent hunting a serial killer has to up his game when a trail of murders is not what it seems in a riveting thriller by Wall Street Journal bestselling author Steven Konkoly.

Five dismembered bodies are found along the roadside, dumped in the middle of nowhere. This isn’t new to Special Agent Garrett Mann. Head of ARTEMIS, a specialized FBI task force hell-bent on hunting down cartel-related killings in the Southwest, Mann has seen this before.

He and his team have been tracking similar kills along thousands of miles of rural roads running north, south, and back again. When the latest slaughter yields a key piece of evidence, Mann thinks he’s found the killer and solved the case. That’s when the nightmare begins.

From a lakeside Minnesota mansion to an abandoned CIA black site in New Mexico, the hunt is on. But the closer Mann gets to his prey, the deadlier the stakes become. This is no ordinary serial killer. He’s not working alone—and the stakes go far beyond just preventing the serial killer’s next massacre. What Mann unravels is a powerful and far-reaching conspiracy beyond his wildest imagination. 


This was a very cool thriller from Konkoly that goes in some excellent and exciting directions.  Starting off with an investigation from FBI agent Garrett Mann’s ARTEMIS team, who are hunting a serial killer, the case goes in some unique directions when the team find themselves under attack by an unknown organisation determined to help the killer escape.  Going against orders, the team attempt to find their suspect and uncover the truth only to become fugitives themselves.  Working outside the law, Mann and his team soon uncover an elaborate conspiracy as their opponents attempt to enact their own insidious plan using dangerous killers as their pawns.

A Clean Kill was one of the more thrilling and fun books I read last year, and I had a brilliant time powering through its compelling story.  Featuring a great conspiracy narrative and loaded with action, Konkoly keeps up a great pace the entire way through A Clean Kill that ensures the reader is constantly glued to the page.  I loved how the author kept raising the stakes for the protagonists, with the characters forced to go rogue to find justice and their killer.  Konkoly ensures everything leads up to an outstanding and fun major confrontation in the second half of the book, and you come away intrigued by how the series will continue.  While there were some flaws in how the antagonist’s motivations and history were shown to the reader, and the protagonist’s group contained way too many supporting characters, A Clean Kill was an overall excellent read and one that comes highly recommended.  I am hoping to read the sequel to this book, A Hired Kill, later this year, and I will be very interested to see how this series continues.

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Ghost of the Neon God by T. R. Napper

Publisher: Titan Books (Trade Paperback – 25 June 2024)

Series: Standalone

Length: 113 pages

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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Next we have the interesting science fiction novella Ghost of the Neon God by Australian author T. R. Napper.  Set in the same universe as Napper’s previous book, 36 Streets, Ghost of the Neon God was a cool cyberpunk adventure set in an over-teched, future Australia that gets wild in some amazing ways.


Plot Synopsis:

A thrilling, propulsive story of escape as a small-time crook goes on the run across Australia with a stolen secret that will change the world, perfect for fans of William Gibson’s All Tomorrow’s Parties, Richard Morgan and Ghost in the Shell.

Jackson Nguyen is a petty crook living slim on the mean streets of Melbourne. When he crosses paths with a desperate, but wealthy, Chinese dissident, begging for his help, Jack responds in the only natural he steals her shoes.

And yet, despite every effort to mind his own damn business, a wild spiral into the worst kind of trouble begins – Murder, mayhem, fast cars, fast-talking, bent cops, and long straight highways into the terrible beauty of the vast Australian Outback.

In Jack’s world, taking a stand against the ruling class is the shortest path to a shallow grave. But when an Earth-shattering technology falls into his hands, he must do everything he can to stop the wrong people taking it. In a world of pervasive government surveillance and oppressive corporate control, it’s up to a small-time criminal to keep the spark of human rebellion alive.


Napper came up with an intriguing tech thriller in Ghost of the Neon God that sees a petty thief caught up in dangerous events when he becomes the unwilling host to a powerful AI.  Quickly and effectively building up a storyline involving Chinese agents hunting the protagonist, the AI and their passenger throughout the country, Ghost of the Neon God was a compelling and action-packed read that made great use of the dark, technological future that Napper has envisioned in his previous works.  Thanks to its short length, Ghost of the Neon God is an easy book to power through, and I had a wonderful time reading this enjoyable and thoughtful read.

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The Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Turton

Publisher: Raven Books (Trade Paperback – 28 March 2024)

Series: Standalone

Length: 403 pages

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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The last crime fiction book that I want to review in this post is the impressive science fiction murder mystery The Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Turton.  One of my most anticipated books for the first half of 2024, The Last Murder at the End of the World was the third book from Turton, who previously impressed me with his first book, The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle.  This latest book was a particularly amazing novel that featured a distinctive plot and outstanding scenario.


Plot Synopsis:

Solve the murder to save what’s left of the world.

Outside the island there is nothing: the world was destroyed by a fog that swept the planet, killing anyone it touched.

On the island: it is idyllic. One hundred and twenty-two villagers and three scientists, living in peaceful harmony. The villagers are content to fish, farm and feast, to obey their nightly curfew, to do what they’re told by the scientists.

Until, to the horror of the islanders, one of their beloved scientists is found brutally stabbed to death. And then they learn that the murder has triggered a lowering of the security system around the island, the only thing that was keeping the fog at bay. If the murder isn’t solved within 107 hours, the fog will smother the island—and everyone on it.

But the security system has also wiped everyone’s memories of exactly what happened the night before, which means that someone on the island is a murderer—and they don’t even know it.

And the clock is ticking.


This was an intense and thought-provoking novel from Turton that saw the author combine an inventive science fiction scenario with complex mystery as the unusual protagonists attempt to solve a crime that goes against their very nature.  Turton was very ambitious in his writing for The Last Murder at the End of the World, as he effectively sets up this compelling society and loads it with secrets and unusual characters before throwing all their lives into chaos with the killing.

The resulting narrative goes in some very interesting directions, as the various secrets of the island are slowly revealed and the truth behind the killings is uncovered.  Turton’s elaborate setting really took on a life of its own as the book continued, and I deeply enjoyed the elaborate science fiction elements and complex world building that is skilfully introduced to the reader as the story continues.  There are a lot of clever elements to this book, and I really appreciated the powerful character work, the constantly evolving narrative and the raw emotion of the book, which helped to produce an outstanding read.

Other highlights of this book that I really enjoyed including the distinctive narration style that Turton utilises throughout The Last Murder at the End of the World, as the story is told through the eye of a computer connected to the mind of all the main characters.  Not only does this narrative tool help to produce a unique read but it also plays into the narrative in some very clever ways that I really appreciated.  This entire book comes together extremely well, and Turton resolves the mystery in a satisfying way, keeping the reader hooked all the way to the end.  The Last Murder at the End of the World proved to be quite a powerful book, and readers will come away very thoughtful thanks to the author’s unique ideas and intense storytelling.  Highly recommended, especially for those readers looking for something truly stylish and memorable.

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Quick Review – The Ascent by Adam Plantinga

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Quick Review, Thriller6 Comments

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (Paperback – 12 November 2024)

Series: Kurt Argento – Book One

Length: 343 pages

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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Intriguing new author Adam Plantinga presents one of the most entertaining and exciting debuts of 2024 with the outstanding and brilliantly over-the-top thriller, The Ascent.

Plot Synopsis:

Kurt Argento, an ex-Detroit street cop who can’t let injustice go—and who has the fighting skills to back up his idealism. If he sees a young girl being dragged into an alley, he’s going to rescue her and cause some damage.  When he does just that in a small corrupt Missouri town, he’s brutally beaten and thrown into a maximum-security prison.

Julie Wakefield, a grad student who happens to be the governor’s daughter, is about to take a tour of the prison. But when a malfunction in the security system releases a horde of prisoners, a fierce struggle for survival ensues.  

Argento must help a small band of staff and civilians, including Julie and her two state trooper handlers, make their way from the bottom floor to the roof to safety.  All that stands in their way are six floors of the most dangerous convicts in Missouri.  

The Ascent was a particularly awesome read that I had a fantastic time reading.  The debut novel from Adam Plantinga, a police officer who has previously written some non-fiction books on the experiences of law enforcement officials, The Ascent was a bonkers, balls-to-the-wall novel loaded with fun storytelling, intense action, and all the carnage you would ever want.

As you would imagine from a book with the very cool plot synopsis above, The Ascent was a very fast-paced novel designed to grab a reader’s attention fast and keep them hooked with the appropriate offerings of violence, extreme moments and over-the-top characters.  Plantinga delivers all that in spades as he quickly introduces his main characters for the book, with a particular focus on protagonist Kurt Argento, a damaged former cop with a hero complex who has left his home city to find himself.  Encountering injustice in small town Missouri, Argento is framed by the corrupt sheriff and sent to the Whitehall Correctional Facility, a maximum-security private prison.  Serendipitously, secondary protagonist Julie Wakefield, the governor’s daughter, arrives at Whitehall with her security detail at the same time as Argento for an educational tour.  While coincidental, this proves to be a rather impactful and effective introduction to the main characters, and I honestly found myself getting really drawn into the book at this point, as you have all information you need before things go to hell.

With the prison’s systems failing and convicts being released from their cells, Argento’s aid is reluctantly accepted by a small group of police, prison guards and other staff to help take Julie from the bottom level of the prison to the roof.  Forced to fight up one level of the prison to the next, the plot gets extremely crazy, as the protagonists encounter even worse criminals on each floor of the prison, are hunted by an assassin gunning for Argento and are forced to contend with the demons of several members of the group.  Plantinga keeps the action going hard and fast through this part of the book, and you honestly can’t turn away from the intense scenes that occur as the protagonists keep moving up.  There is a certain gritty realism to the desperation of the protagonists as they try to survive, and you become even more enthralled by the narrative as they constantly battered main characters fight higher and higher up the prison facing worse odds the entire way.  There are some intense betrayals, clever twists, and some truly dark moments as the plot continues, and you will honestly find yourself hooked right up to the brutal finale, with Plantinga featuring a satisfying conclusion that hints at more adventures to come. 

I really loved how The Ascent came together, and Plantinga wrote an impactful, hard-hitting action thriller that proved very hard to put down.  Between its compelling, if exaggerated plot, gritty action and intriguing characters, there is a lot to love about The Ascent, and I honestly got really hooked on this book as it continued, getting through the last 300 pages in one enjoyable chunk of late-night reading.  The wonderfully over-the-top story moved at such a quick-fire pace, while shoving so much cool action into the reader’s face.  Plantinga clearly knows what he’s talking about when it comes to the fights in this book, and the reader is gifted to a truly awesome and outrageous amount of violence and carnage, which only gets crazier the further in you get.  Between warring gangs, brutal ambushes, desperate battles against killers, and encounters with some truly scary and unhinged beings, the protagonists go through hell, and you honestly are left waiting to see if they will survive, especially as Plantinga throws in some dark sacrifices to keep you on your toes.  These intense inclusions work extremely well with the fantastic storytelling, and I had so much fun seeing the characters race from bloody fight to bloody fight.  I will say that this is an excessive book at times, and the descriptions of brutal violence and other darker things might not be for every reader, but for those fans of bloody thrillers or brutal action films, this is the perfect book for you to check out. 

While I have tended to highlight the action a lot in this review, I must point out that Plantinga brought together a well-written tale of survival that proves to be intense, entertaining and powerful at the same time.  The plot about moving up the levels of the prison was cleverly set out, and the actions of the characters always seem quite reasonable and realistic, especially the combination of doubt and determination that resulted from the increased conflict and catastrophe.  You could honestly feel the desperation of the characters as the book continued, and while things got quite crazy the further along you got, there was always a grain of realism to the plot, especially as the protagonists struggled more and more the further along they got.  If I had one complaint about The Ascent, it’s that they never fully explained or explored the reasons behind the issues impacting the prison, which seems like a major oversight in my opinion, although I may forgive that if it becomes a plot point in later books.  I will also say that it is very clear that The Ascent is written by a police officer, although I did think that Plantinga tried to cover the profession with some nuance, which was appreciated.

A key thing about The Ascent that I need to compliment is the excellent character work.  Kurt Argento is an outstandingly damaged protagonist going through some real grief at the loss of his wife.  Plantinga does a great job setting up his current hero complex and death wish as a consequence of this loss, and you really feel his pain as he keeps trying to do the right thing, even if it kills him.  The other main protagonist, Julie, is another well-written character, as this somewhat sheltered character learns to fight back against those coming for her as she comes face to face with the dark side of humanity.  These two characters form a great duo, and I appreciated how Plantinga played them off each other, especially towards the end of the book.  The other supporting characters in The Ascent were also well-written, and Plantinga introduces an interesting array of disparate personality types that conflict against each other in compelling ways, especially when things get particularly bad.  These excellent characters helped to evolve The Ascent above a typical action thriller, and readers will find themselves quite invested in seeing how these figures will survive as a result.

Overall, The Ascent by Adam Plantinga was an epic and highly captivating debut that I had a really, really fun time with.  Plantinga presented a true action classic guaranteed to keep your attention the entire way through, and it honestly proves hard to put The Ascent down at times.  Dark, bloody and intense in all the best ways, The Ascent was one of the most memorable debuts of 2024 and I am so damn glad I decided to check it out.  I cannot wait to read more from Plantinga, and I am already very keen to grab the sequel to The Ascent, Hard Town, which is coming out in a few months’ time.

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Quick Review – Gunnawah by Ronni Salt

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Australian, Murder Mystery, Quick Review4 Comments

Publisher: Hachette Australia (Trade Paperback – 1 January 2025)

Series: Standalone/Book One

Length: 328 pages

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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New Australian author Ronni Salt presents a compelling new crime fiction debut with the fantastic novel Gunnawah, an intriguing and distinctive read that explores an intriguing period of rural Australian history.

Plot Synopsis:

It’s 1974 in the Riverina

The weather is hot

But the body in the Murray River is stone cold . . .

A captivating and compulsive crime thriller about guns, drugs and a young woman dead on the money

When nineteen-year-old farmgirl Adelaide Hoffman applies for a cadetship at the Gunnawah Gazette, she sees it as her ticket out of a life too small for her. The paper’s owner, Valdene Bullark, seeing something of the girl she once was in young Adelaide, puts her straight to work.

What starts as a routine assignment covering an irrigation project soon puts Adelaide on the trail of a much bigger story. Water is money in farming communities, and when Adelaide starts asking questions, it’s like she’s poked a bull ant’s nest. Someone will do whatever it takes to stop Adelaide and Val finding out how far the river of corruption and crime runs.

Shady deals. Vested interests. A labyrinth of lies. It seems everyone in Gunnawah has a secret to keep. And too many are already dead quiet.

Set deep in the heart of rural Australia during the era of Gough Whitlam, pub brawls and flared jeans, Gunnawah is a compulsive crime thriller of corruption, guns and drugs from Australian Noir’s most arresting new voice.

Gunnawah was an excellent first book from Ronni Salt that was an amazing and entertaining bit of Australian fiction to start 2025 on.  Cleverly examining the unique landscape of Australia’s Riverina area in the 1970s and diving into its controversial history, Gunnawah was a fast-paced and surprisingly complex read that blended big characters with an addictive crime fiction narrative.

The book has an interesting, if slow, start to it, as the reader is introduced to the protagonist, Adelaide Hoffman, as well as the various other memorable inhabitants of the town.  Much of the first third of Gunnawah is dedicated to building these figures up, while also hinting at the many secrets surrounding the town.  While readers don’t get a lot of excitement off the bat in Gunnawah, I felt that this slow burn start was vital to the book’s later impact, especially as Salt loads up a ton of clues and hints about the later events of the book.

Things begin to heat up when the protagonists discover that there is a darker side to their small town, especially when it becomes clear a vital new irrigation project has ties to a local drug operation, while other crimes remain hidden in the shadows.  There are some tense scenes as Adelaide, Val and their offsider Wayne begin to uncover what’s really going on around Gunnawah.  However, it is the last third of the book that really ensures Gunnawah sticks in the mind.  Starting off with a big event that is reminiscent of a particularly infamous Australian crime, the protagonists are soon thrust into greater danger and are forced to fight back like the battling Australian farmers they are.  There are some awesome scenes here, especially as damaged protagonist Adelaide shows how badass she is, and I liked some of the satisfying conclusions that occur to the main story.  Salt also cleverly ties up some other intriguing mysteries that have been running alongside the central plot, and I liked the solutions that emerged, especially as the resulting reveals were well built up in the earlier parts of the book.  Readers come away very satisfied with how Salt concludes Gunnawah, and there is some potential to continue this book as a series if the author wants to.

Salt pulls together an intriguing book for her debut that blends a fantastic crime fiction read with some cool historical inclusions and a subtle web of humour that proves hard to get away from.  Featuring a mass of interesting perspective characters, Gunnawah’s plot revolves around finding out all their relevant secrets and working together the storylines of the various big personalities in the town.  These multiple perspectives help to create a complex and layered narrative, and they often backup the fantastic central characters of Adelaide and Val.  The author builds up some excellent character development and human moments throughout Gunnawah, especially as there are some complex and damaged protagonists featured throughout.  For example, Adelaide comes into the narrative traumatised by a previous incident that is expanded on as the book continues, and it was great to see her regain her confidence as Gunnawah continues.

The rest of the characters in the novel are an excellent combination of outrageous small-town folk, and a lot of Gunnawah’s humour is built from the fantastically funny interactions between these entertaining figures.  For example, Val and Wayne, long-time friends who have history with the seedier side of Sydney before coming to small-town Gunnawah, prove to be a highly entertaining duo, and I enjoyed how they took events into their own hands, especially when it comes to protecting Adelaide.  Other great humorous figures include the ambitious, if slightly hapless, mayor of Gunnawah and his social-climbing wife, whose antics in face of the serious crimes going on around town prove to be a lot of fun.  These figures, as well as a range of other great exaggerated small-town folk in Gunnawah, add a lot to how entertaining Gunnawah proved to be, and I am curious to see if Salt will revisit them in any future books.

Another amazing aspect of Gunnawah that I really enjoyed was the fantastic historical background surrounding the main setting of the plot.  Salt did a great job emulating a Riverina town for this book, and you really got the sense of a small Australian town in the 1970s, with the mixture of farmers, local politics and other country folk.  Small towns always work well in Australian crime fiction, especially as readers love to see antics out in the bush, and Salt makes her story stand out by tying the narrative into real-life crime aspects of 1970s Australia.  In particular, the narrative features representatives of a criminal organisation active during the period, and one of the major events of the books is highly reminiscent of the Donald Mackay incident.  The author also includes a lot of references to larger events occurring around Australia during the period, especially rampant police corruption in New South Wales, as well as a focus on Australian politics.  I personally enjoyed seeing the references to the Gough Whitlam era, and Salt actually includes a visit from Whitlam to Gunnawah as part of the plot, which proves to be quite a fun scene, especially when two of the book’s more entertaining personalities become involved.  These intriguing historical inclusions give Gunnawah some real authenticity, especially if you are familiar with how bad things got in the Riverina area during the period, and I appreciated how Salt worked it into her narrative.

Ronni Salt comes out of the gate swinging with her first novel as Gunnawah proves to be an outstanding and compelling piece of Australian fiction.  An amazing debut to start 2025 on, Gunnawah featured a great blend of crime fiction and historical inclusions to create a gripping and entertaining read.  I had an awesome time reading Gunnawah, and I look forward to seeing what Salt writes next.

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Quick Review – The Recruiter by Gregg Podolski

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Quick Review, Thriller2 Comments

Publisher: Blackstone Publishing (ebook – 23 July 2024)

Series: Rick Carter – Book One

Length: 327 pages

My Rating: 4.25 out of 5 pages

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I read a bunch of fun debuts in 2024, but one of my favourites was the awesome and action-packed thriller from Gregg Podolski, The Recruiter.  Following an entertaining protagonist as he faces the mistakes of his past, as well as a crew of ruthless assassins he personally recruited, this was a fantastic first novel from Podolski that I honestly had a ton of fun with.


Plot Synopsis:

When bad guys need good help, they call Rick Carter.

He’s a criminal recruiter, searching for contract killers, cyber hackers, gun smugglers, and any other assorted villains-for-hire a European crime boss might need. But, when the family he left behind in New Jersey is caught up in a client’s plot to monopolize the black market, Rick has to save them from two of his own top candidates: deadly assassins known only as Ghost and The Persian.

Fixing his own mess will require a set of skills he doesn’t have—not a problem, as finding qualified help is where he excels. But stepping into action, becoming the hero his family needs, that’s new territory. For a man who’s spent the last ten years being the best at helping the worst, this may be his last chance to do something right.


I really liked the central plot idea that Podolski came up with for The Recruiter, as his protagonist, rather than being an extreme action-orientated hero, is someone who took their corporate recruiter job to the next level and started working with criminals in the same capacity.  This was an interesting change of pace which I think worked well, especially when combined with a sinister conspiracy and threats close to the protagonist’s home.

Podolski starts The Recruiter off hot and fast as you are quickly introduced to the protagonist, Rick Carter, and the recruitment business he has built up.  The story takes an interesting turn when Rick is kidnapped and forced to work for a shadowy organisation that wants him to pull together a team of killers to take out several law enforcement officers across the world.  Reluctantly agreeing to work with them, Rick is soon forced to turn against his new employers when he discovers that one of their targets is connected to his own family who Rick abandoned years before.  Suddenly finding his two top recruits working against him, Rick is forced to pull together an unlikely last-minute team to accompany him back to America to save his family and work out who is trying to kill them.

The Recruiter’s resulting story is the awesome and captivating action thrill ride you would expect with that sort of set-up.  Podolski keeps things moving fast, and there is always something awesome or interesting on the page as the protagonist attempts to keep his family safe while trying to determine why they are being targeted.  There are some excellent betrayals, compelling twists and big action moments as the plot proceeds, and I had a fun time seeing the protagonist’s unique plans in action.  Podolski does a good job balancing this excitement with some moving character moments as the protagonist reunites with the wife and kids he left behind, and the resulting heartfelt sequences add a fantastic emotional edge to the entire book.  The author ends The Recruiter on an excellent note that keeps the reader strongly engaged right up to the end and finishes with some thrilling confrontations with the protagonist’s former assassins.  There is also a fun reveal that, while not entirely unexpected, was interesting, especially as it indicates Podolski has plans to continue the series in the future.

You can tell that Podolski had a great time writing this novel, and I personally loved the awesome story and exciting writing style, which made The Recruiter very easy to read and power through.  I especially enjoyed the fantastic characters, as the author introduced several compelling and memorable figures throughout the plot.  The main one naturally was protagonist and point-of-view character Rick Carter, who serves as an awesome central figure for the story.  While I do think that Podolski occasionally made Rick a little too zany, for the most part he was a great sarcastic protagonist that thriller fans will appreciate.  Thanks to his skillset as a recruiter rather than an operator, Rick stands out compared to your typical thriller protagonist, and there are some entertaining sequences where he uses his talent for networking and other corporate skills to defeat his opponents.  There is also the great emotional element to Rick’s story as he deals with his own guilt at abandoning his family, and it proved captivating to see how he reflects and moves forward through it.  Other great characters include a rookie operative recruit that Rick hires who proves to be both a real badass and a potential love interest, Rick’s former ace assassins who more than live up to their reputation, as well as a great overarching antagonist who steals the early scenes they are in and remain a threatening presence throughout the entire plot.

I had an absolute blast with The Recruiter, and it ended up being an outstanding debut from this first-time author.  An exciting and compelling character-driven read, The Recruiter was a book that was very easy to have fun with, and I am very glad I decided to check it out.  I look forward to seeing if Gregg Podolski will continue this series in the future, and I know that I will be grabbing the sequel when it comes out.

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Quick Review – Warhammer: The Horus Heresy: Eidolon: The Auric Hammer by Marc Collins

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Extended Universe, Quick Review, Science Fiction, Tie-in Novel, WarhammerLeave a comment

Publisher: Black Library (Audiobook – 22 October 2024)

Series: Warhammer: The Horus Heresy

Length: 6 hours and 26 minutes

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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2024 was a great year for Warhammer fiction, especially as the Black Library released a ton of awesome books across the various sub-series and franchises, including The Horus Heresy series, which serves as a major prequel to the Warhammer 40,000 books I usually look at.  One of the last releases of the year was The Horus Heresy character novel, Eidolon: The Auric Hammer.  Written by Marc Collins, who previously impressed me with his Warhammer Crime novel, Grim Repast, Eidolon: The Auric Hammer was a fast-paced and compelling read that dove into the twisted mind of an ambitious traitor as he travels to the final battle of the great war.


Plot Synopsis:

A Horus Heresy Novel

Lord Commander Primus Eidolon has claimed many titles along the annals of his infamy. He is the Exemplar and the Risen, the Soul-Severed, and the Auric Hammer. Now, fallen far from his primarch’s grace, he carves a path to Terra, where the culmination of Horus’ grand heresy awaits.

READ IT BECAUSE

Eidolon has been a key figure of the Emperor’s Children Legion from the beginning. Now, on the eve of the Siege of Terra, he’s fallen far from grace and is facing a long overdue reckoning for his many misdeeds during the Horus Heresy. Can he come to terms with his tainted legacy?

THE STORY

Coaxed and goaded by the wiles of the warp – and an entity whose whispered truths stretch even his credulity – Eidolon finds himself stranded around the world of Tatricala, where the ghosts of his past haunt every fated step. Now he must choose which life he wants to lead… and how much of his soul he is willing to sacrifice for it.

If Eidolon cannot banish his daemons, then they will surely take him for their own.


Eidolon: The Auric Hammer was an excellent addition to the canon, and one that will really appeal to those readers who dove into the extended Horus Heresy series.  Like many of the Horus Heresy character books, The Auric Hammer focuses on one of the interesting supporting characters in the larger franchise and provides a compelling story around them, while also diving into their past.  In this case, Marc Collins tells a quick and entertaining story around Eidolon, one of the commanders of the now fallen Emperor’s Children legion, who has given in to the hedonism and worship of Slaanesh, the Chaos God of pleasure and obsession.

Collins does a great job effectively introducing the character of Eidolon and thrusting readers into his personal madness.  I must admit that I haven’t read any of the other Horus Heresy novels before, so I wasn’t especially familiar with the character of Eidolon, which did slightly reduce my appreciation for this book.  However, readers with even moderate knowledge of Warhammer 40,000 lore and the Horus Heresy can easily follow along with Collin’s quick story without too much difficulty.  Collins breaks this into a couple of fun parts, with a fight against daemons on the protagonist’s ship leading to an impromptu invasion of an isolated planet alongside “allies”.  However, nothing goes to plan as Eidolon and his comrades find themselves best by the dark plots of a daemonic entity who desires to destroy him.

This last third of the book is probably the best, as Collins envisions a series of daemonic encounters that play in the ravaged psyches of the various Emperor’s Children characters.  While I had a hard time connecting to some of the supporting cast members (Collins might have been better off with a more tightly focused narrative), it was interesting to see their various struggles, especially as it effectively showed how far their legion had fallen.  Eidolon’s personal inner struggle was the strongest part of the book, especially as Collins dove into his many issues, including his ambition, resentments and the anger he has with the various father figures in his life.  The protagonist comes out of this book stronger, and I particularly loved the reveal about who was behind everything at the end of the novel.  The confrontation that Eidolon had with this figure was extremely entertaining, and you come away appreciating just how suicidally stubborn Eidolon can be.

As is my habit with most Warhammer fiction, I chose to check out The Auric Hammer on audiobook, mainly because it was voiced by one of my favourite audiobook narrators, Toby Longworth.  A very effective narrator, Longworth perfectly captures the various elaborately dark characters featured with The Auric Hammer, and I love how he brings readers into the outrageous and grim Warhammer universe.  Longworth’s already impressive voice is enhanced in various sequences by cool sound effects that help to showcase the various daemonic creatures that the protagonist encounters.  These effects and Longworth’s fantastic voicework really make you appreciate the eldritch power and inherent evilness the various figures they represented, and I felt it did wonders on bringing me further into the narrative.  Combine that with the excellent way in which Longworth captures the intense dark emotions of Eidolon, including his frustration and disgust at his Primarch’s actions and abandonment of him, and this proves to be an outstanding and addictive audiobook.  Featuring a relatively short runtime of just under six and a half hours, The Auric Hammer is an easy audiobook to get through quickly, and I had a lot of fun knocking it off in a couple of enjoyable sessions.

Overall, Eidolon: The Auric Hammer was an awesome and exciting Warhammer audiobook from Marc Collins that is worth checking out.  Cleverly focusing on an intriguing figure in the canon while also expanding on the massive Horus Heresy series, The Auric Hammer really grabbed my attention, and I had a great time getting through it.  An excellent Warhammer book to check out, especially if you have been enjoying the other Horus Heresy books.

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Quick Review – Starter Villain by John Scalzi

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Comedy/Satire, Quick Review, Science Fiction4 Comments

Publisher: Tor (ebook – 23 September 2023)

Series: Standalone

Length: 256 pages

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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As we are getting towards the end of 2024, it’s probably about time I got around to writing something about one of the more hilarious and wildly entertaining books I checked out last year, the outstanding novel Starter Villain by John Scalzi.

John Scalzi is an outstanding science fiction author who has produced some intriguing and thoughtful books over the years.  Best known for his Old Man’s War series that followed the science fiction adventures of old human military volunteers whose minds are transferred to younger, genetically modified body, Scalzi is a highly inventive writer who creates some elaborate and powerful scenarios.  While he has written some very compelling science fiction series, I best know Scalzi from his standalone books where he and turns some outrageous ideas into wonderful tales of humanity.  My favourite is Redshirts, a fantastic and very clever Star Trek parody that imagines life aboard an Enterprise-esque ship from the point of view of the expendable lower-decks crew.  I also had a ton of fun with Scalzi’s 2022 novel, The Kaiju Preservation Society, which showcased the intriguing adventures of an organisation dedicated to preserving kaiju in a parallel universe.  All these books were very fun, which is why I made sure to grab a copy of the 2023 release, Starter Villian, which had a great plot behind it.


Plot Synopsis:

Inheriting your uncle’s supervillain business is more complicated than you might think. Particularly when you discover who’s running the place.

Charlie’s life is going nowhere fast. A divorced substitute teacher living with his cat in a house his siblings want to sell, all he wants is to open a pub downtown, if only the bank will approve his loan.

Then his long-lost uncle Jake dies and leaves his supervillain business (complete with island volcano lair) to Charlie.

But becoming a supervillain isn’t all giant laser death rays and lava pits. Jake had enemies, and now they’re coming after Charlie. His uncle might have been a stand-up, old-fashioned kind of villain, but these are the real thing: rich, soulless predators backed by multinational corporations and venture capital.

It’s up to Charlie to win the war his uncle started against a league of supervillains. But with unionized dolphins, hyperintelligent talking spy cats, and a terrifying henchperson at his side, going bad is starting to look pretty good.

In a dog-eat-dog world…be a cat.


This was a highly entertaining novel from Scalzi, who provides his own unique take on supervillains in all the best ways.  Starting off with a very comical funeral scene, Starter Villain only gets better from there as the protagonist, Charlie, finds his life unexpectantly changed when he inherits his uncle’s supervillain business and associated wealth.  Scalzi provides a fantastic introduction to the unique new world of super science and sinister business practices, and you are soon caught up in Charlie’s unlikely rise to the top.  The first half of the book is loaded with intriguing scenes as Scalzi lets his imagination run wild, and you have a fantastic time learning about sentient cats, crude talking dolphins constantly going on strike, and the other unlikely inventions and people that now make up Charlie’s life.  This compelling introduction to the world works well in setting up the second half of the story, as Charlie meets a cabal of similar uber-rich supervillains who all seek to exploit him.  When a series of events outside of his control force him into a battle of survival against these supervillains, Charlie needs all his new allies and his own unique ideas to win the day, even if victory isn’t quite what he imagined.

Starter Villain was such a lovely and impressive read, and I loved seeing Scalzi utilise his humour into something more terrestrial, yet still out of this world.  Featuring the author’s typical fast pace, Starter Villain hits the ground running and throws you right into the middle of Scalzi’s fantastic and memorable ideas.  The resulting story is clever, addictive, and features some amazing twists, all of which is very awesome to see unfold.  While there is a lot of mad science, Scalzi does try to ground the supervillain antics, and I loved the author’s thoughts on how such an organisation could exist in the modern world and what sort of nefarious actions they would participate in.  Naturally this means corporations and the uber-wealthy, which is depressingly accurate if you consider recent events, although this does mean that the antagonists are very easy to dislike and entirely unredeemable.  The author loads in so much clever humour around the general supervillain scenario, and I loved the fantastic jokes about the profession, the inventions that are being created, and the unusual ways they stay in power.  A lot of jokes about supervillains also provide some excellent commentary on current society, which cynical people like me will enjoy (a joke about a potential Australian recruit to the supervillain cabal hit close to home, which was just perfect).  This is a hilarious and well-put together read that expertly showcases the author’s inventive spirit.

I also want to mention the fantastic range of complex and eccentric characters featured throughout Starter Villain, who helped to make the story even more unique and funny.  Most of the book’s focus goes around the protagonist, Charlie, who finds himself thrust into a new world of dangerous rich elites and supervillain logic.  Charlie proves to be a great central figure for Starter Villain’s plot, mainly because he plays a great everyman character whose reaction to the narrative’s crazy events mirrors that of the reader.  While slightly bland compared to the other outrageous characters, Charlie does experience some excellent growth, especially as he learns to take responsibility and to appreciate the life he has.  I also enjoyed how Charlie, despite being new to the supervillain lifestyle, was able to work out solutions to his organisation’s big problems often by being his typical thoughtful self.  The rest of the characters in Starter Villain are all allowed to go wild due to having Charlie as the perspective protagonist, and I loved the array of talking dolphins, unusual scientists, murderous goons and rich manipulators that Charlie had to either work with or overcome.  My favourite figures were easily the highly intelligent sentient cats, who really run the company and who have been manipulating Charlie his whole life.  Scalzi has a lot of fun showcasing the cunning cats in charge, and I felt this whole awesome crew of characters helped to turn Starter Villain into an extremely fun read.

Overall, Starter Villain was an amazing read from John Scalzi that proves impossible not to love.  Featuring the author’s infectious humour and love for inventive scenarios, Starter Villain was such a great book, and I deeply enjoyed the author’s take on supervillain fiction.  Clever, unique and so much fun, Starter Villian is an exceptional read, and I really wish I had written a review for it sooner.  I will have to pick up my Scalzi game in the future, and not only have I got a copy of Old Man’s War to read at home, but I am eagerly awaiting his next book, When the Moon Hits Your Eye, which features a very, very interesting sounding story about the moon literally transforming into cheese, an idea I have so much love for and cannot wait to check out.

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Quick Review – The Chilling by Riley James

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Australian, Quick Review, Thriller3 Comments

Publisher: Allen & Unwin Australia (ebook – 3 September 2024)

Series: Standalone

Length: 312 pages

My Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars

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Australian author Riley James presents a captivating and amazing debut novel with The Chilling, a distinctive debut novel that I had an outstanding time getting through.

Plot Synopsis:

An unputdownable thriller set in the pressure-cooker environment of an Antarctic winter.

An isolated research station. A storm approaching.

There’s nowhere to run. But so much to hide.

Keen to flee the wreckage of her marriage, Australian scientist Kit Bitterfeld accepts a coveted winter research position at Macpherson Station in Antarctica. On the way there, Kit and her fellow researchers field a distress call from a nearby ship.

By the time they reach the vessel it is on fire and the crew has vanished. A lone survivor is found, but he can’t remember who he is or what has happened.

They bring the survivor, identified as geophysicist Nick Coltheart, to Macpherson but it’s clear that something is wrong. More and more of Kit’s colleagues are acting strangely. And she can’t shake the suspicion that Nick knows more than he’s letting on. With the winter darkness setting in, Kit must figure out the truth before they are completely cut off from the outside world. But is the danger lurking out on the ice, or is it closer than she thinks?

The Chilling offers a compellingly icy twist on the winter thriller setting, transplanting the most haunting elements of Scandi noir to the southern hemisphere, and announces Riley James as a brilliant new talent writing in a fresh corner of Australian crime fiction.


The Chilling was a great novel from Riley James that features a fascinating story of survival, identity and secrets.  Set on and around Antarctica, the story initially focuses on damaged protagonist, Kit Bitterfeld, who attempts to escape her failed marriage by volunteering for a lengthy expedition.  Things get interesting very quickly when the protagonist attempts to assist another research ship in distress, but instead finds it abandoned and on fire, with one mysterious and seemingly amnesiac survivor hidden aboard.  While this injured survivor, Nick Coltheart, appears to have no knowledge of what happened aboard the ship or his past life, Kit soon becomes suspicious of him and the behaviour of her fellow scientists, especially when mysterious deaths and disappearances occur around the research compound.  At the same time, a separate storyline follows the survivors of the damaged ship, who are attempting to cross the treacherous ice on foot and encounter danger, death and despair, especially as some of the survivors consider the lies and crimes that led them there.  The separate storylines come together in an impressive manner as the book continues, and the converging secrets lead to some excellent reveals and moving moments.

This ended up being a deep and intriguing novel that blended a cool thriller storyline with a compelling and moving character-focused plot line.  I loved the blend of mystery, drama and intrigue that emerges as James dives further into her narrative, and the resulting twists and swerves are well set up and have a satisfying impact.  I felt that the reveals about who was responsible for the various crimes where quite clever, and the slow-burn dive into each of the figures in question allowed for great plot.  While some thriller fans may not enjoy how much character drama was contained within The Chilling, I felt that the protagonist’s powerful arc about trauma, lack of trust and finding herself was particularly heartfelt, and it will no doubt resonate with many readers.  Other character storylines have some interesting focus on guilt, as the sins of the past come back to haunt them, and it proves very moving to see the various lines of this unravel to discover who did what.

I can’t finish this review without highlighting the way that James featured Antarctica throughout The Chilling, as the continent served as a haunting background to her story.  Not only does the author provide some vivid and powerful descriptions of the setting through her writing, but she also describes the impacts of the isolation and desolation of the ice continent on the people who visit it.  I loved the complex sense of duality you get from the author’s depictions of Antarctica, as there is both hope and despair hidden within it, and it was fascinating to see some of the characters find themselves there for good or for ill.  James also did an excellent job incorporating the aspects and features of Antarctica into the overarching plot, and the problems caused by the remoteness, the weather, and other complicating factors really amps up the thriller aspect of the plot in some fantastic ways.  This was such a cool (ha ha) background setting, and it made James first book really striking and memorable.

Riley James really impresses with her debut novel, and I felt that The Chilling was one of the stronger Australian novels I read in 2024.  Featuring a complex and multi-layered story of survival, intrigue and deep characters, The Chilling was an outstanding read which is worth checking out, especially if you are interested in something distinctive from a fresh Australian author.

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